New Life : A Second Chance

Once the three girls left, Kay looked at the two boys who were watching from afar. She shrugged and called the waitress to order her dessert.

"That. Was. Awesome," Mark gushed as he sat down in front of her, "I'm in love."

Kay, who was busy punching the keys on her phone, ignored him. Once done, she put down the phone and looked at him lazily. 

"You know, you're a pretty nice guy."

"Thanks!" Mark answered, grinning.

"Until you open your mouth," Kay finished.

His face fell for a second, "Then I won't open my mouth then. I'll just sit here, look pretty and be by your side. I won't say a single word."

"For five seconds," Lance commented, sitting down.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Mark protested.

"Make that one second," Lance corrected himself.

Kay giggled.

Perhaps these two could be friends after all.

Outside, Erica was slowly getting her sanity back. The further she got away from the cafe, the better she felt. Once her heart calmed down, she stopped and clenched her fists.

There was no way she was going to let Kay get away with this. There has to be some way for her to get back at her without getting caught. 

She had to get in touch with some hackers. Who could she contact?

Just then, her phone received a notification. A message. Pauline's and Ethel's phone also gave off the sounds of a message notification.

"Wait ... why did you send me a message?" Ethel asked Erica.

Erica's face was pale.

"I didn't," she whispered, her hands shaking as she looked at her own message. It was from her own phone. She sent a message to herself ... that was not possible.

Opening it, the pictures of her 'before' and 'after' the operation were shown. Simple words below, saying, "I dare you."

Pauline and Ethel looked at their messages. Both received pictures as well.

Pauline received pictures of bank statements, with one zoomed in and one particular purchase was highlighted while there was a picture of Ethel in a vintage gown, all dirtied and with a huge tear in it.

The same words were given, "I dare you."

The three of them gulped, looked at each other and finally, Erica said, "I think we should keep ourselves away from her."

No words were needed.

✿.✿.✿.✿.

While Kay was handling the three stooges, Kyle was facing his own dilemma.

For the past few weeks, there had been this particular girl that frequented the convenience store he worked at. Every time he was on duty, she would also be dropping by.

Kyle was only a part-time worker, thus only worked at the store 4 days a week. He did this so as to balance his work life and studies - after all, he worked the night shifts at Rex Industries as well. For the latter, it was during the weekends, which was the unpopular times for those with families.

Thus, his work time at the convenience store was not set on any particular day, although he did have his schedule set for each month. 

Was it a coincidence that this girl appeared each time?

He didn't believe in coincidences.

The thing is, he wouldn't really be bothered ordinarily by her presence. What bothered him immensely was ...

How his heart seemed to beat faster each time she walked through the door. 

Kyle cursed himself.

This could not be happening to him.

Having lived one life, he knew exactly what this stupid palpitating of heart meant and it was ridiculous. 

He was Kyle Smith, for goodness sake!

He was a ninja. An assassin. A 'mother'. A movie star, albeit a short while. 

He was not a typical teenager.

So...

Why was he flustered whenever she came by?

It did not make any sense and he was extremely frustrated with himself.

Perhaps it was because he was far away from home, and there wasn't any of his close friends or Kay with him. 

Perhaps he was lonely, which was made worse by him pining for his kids.

Whatever it was, he couldn't deny that she affected him.

It wasn't that she was a beauty.

On the contrary, she was quite ordinary.

Petite, soft-spoken, rather tomboyish and heck, if you were to be brutally honest, she didn't have the curves. She was 15, yet looked 13. 

So what was it that made him feel so attracted to her?

It was driving him crazy.

His head whipped up when he heard the familiar tinkle of the doorbell, indicating that there was a customer.

He gulped when he saw who it was.

Slowly, he walked backwards to head to the storeroom when he hit something solid. Turning, he saw the store supervisor, Alia, staring at him. 

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, as she pushed his back.

"It's your turn at the cashier. Go," she insisted, putting some force into her push.

She found it unusual that the usually quiet, obedient boy was being a bit stubborn today. Did he suspect anything?

She looked at Sari, who had just walked in.

That poor girl had a huge crush on this sloppy boy here, God knows why. So, she had helped out by giving her his schedule.

But how could anything happen if the boy kept hiding away?

Kyle felt the push and he unconsciously resisted, "Kak,* let me off this one time? Please? I'm not really feeling so well."

He looked at her pleadingly, giving her the saddest look he could but she was having none of it.

She glared at him, knocked his forehead and said, "What is wrong with you? Don't tell me you're scared of that little girl?"

Kyle shook his head.

"Then go. You need to meet more people. You're a nice boy, but you're just too moody. Go now. Don't keep the customer waiting," she admonished him.

Kyle groaned and shuffled forward.

If he didn't know any better, he would be thinking that she's trying to matchmake him or something.

✿.✿.✿.✿.